by Paulo Rossi ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 5, 2011
Using his “9 Golden Rules” of infidelity, Rossi teaches women how to successfully cheat on their significant others.
Forget the image of the cheating playboy—or playgirl, in this case—as a good-time Charlene running around on her man and having the time of her life. According to Rossi, cheating—“not an ‘if’ but a ‘when’ proposition”—is hard work, requiring iron discipline, military-caliber planning and a hefty serving of austere self-denial. The author’s self-professed sole qualification as an expert in this field is a lifetime of philandering—except, as he assures his wife in the book’s dedication to her, now that he’s happily, faithfully married. Each chapter delineates one of Rossi’s tried-and-true—from his extensive experience—strategies for getting away with straying, tenets such as “Hide the Evidence,” “Never with Someone You Know” and “Deny Everything.” The trick to a successful affair, according to the author, an aerospace project engineer, is to approach the endeavor with the same cool, logical detachment one might bring to a bank heist. Rossi tries to erase traditionally perceived gender lines by insisting that women can learn to treat sex like men do—as an itch to be scratched. But he falls into every well-trodden gender stereotype—women love chocolate, can’t keep secrets and tend to quickly develop feelings for a sexual partner, especially after 30. And though his target audience is female, under the guise of humorous asides he reveals an unsettlingly sexist view of the fairer sex—women lie, are “dead fish” and should consider “hot lesbian action” if they are toying with the idea of an affair. Rossi doesn’t attempt to apologize for his cheating strategies, such as practicing lying (“That way, you will fall out of the habit of sharing everything with [your mate] so that crucial details won’t slip out when you finally have your fling”). To the contrary, he repeatedly, and unconvincingly, makes the argument that discreet cheating can save relationships and strengthen the institution of marriage. Rossi’s treatise reduces cheating to one more tiresome but necessary chore for today’s busy, multitasking woman to check off her to-do list. Potential value as a competently written, step-by-step how-to from an apparently experienced insider, but often reads more as a gleeful tell-all from a guy who got away with it.
Pub Date: Dec. 5, 2011
ISBN: 978-0615516714
Page Count: 182
Publisher: Nima
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
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by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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